The Egyptian-Thai Business Council, led by Ali El Korey, and a number of the council's members will travel to Thailand to sign cooperation protocol with the Thai side next April. For his part, El Korey told Amwal Al Ghad that the mission, which was supposed to be last October, is delayed due to the incidents in Egypt; referring that the council is preparing a list of the businessmen who are willing to participate in the mission, and working on attracting the Thai investments, besides boosting the volume of the trade exchange between the two countries. El Korey added that the mission is aiming at attracting the Thai tourists in order to raise the Thai tourism rates in Egypt; underscoring the necessity of restoring the security and stability in the Egyptian street. The council is aiming at boosting the volume of the Egyptian exports to the Thai markets, attracting further Thai investments to the Egyptian market, working on resolving the obstacles that face the Thai investments in Egypt and reassuring the Thai side. He noted that China is the strongest rival for Egypt regarding investing in the Thai market. This is due to the fact that China is geographically nearer to Thailand besides the China provides more competitive prices for its commodities than Egypt. Worth mentioning, the trade exchange volume between Egypt and Thailand has reached $600 million by the end of 2011 including 550 Thai commodities exported to Egypt and Egypt's exports worth $50 million to the Thai markets.
